Landscaping, and a revelation! 

To adorn or improve (a section of ground) by contouring and by planting flowers, shrubs, or trees.

Themes run the gamut from: tropical, leisurely, French, English, Tuscan,  Tiki island style, outdoor active recreational spaces, and more. The choices are endless, and the promotion of the ultimate landscaping concepts are everywhere in books, magazines, and nurseries. 

All of the above are appropriate and when done well improve the enjoyment of home. Below is not a criticism but rather another path that seeks not to adorn or improve but rather to achieve a partnership between the land and the house. A sense of natural relationship with harmony between the exisitng enviroment and the built enviroment.

Months ago, Julie and I took an architectural tour in the Chicago area and Wisconsin, observing and studying over two dozen of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces.  It was during that trip that a very unexpected strong impression was made.

I was excited and fully prepared to see wonderful examples of architecture. That after all was the point of the trip. What was unexpected was that when observing and interacting with these great properties there was a passiveness and harmony that was present, a strong sense that it was far more than the architecture of the buildings. That the magic of FLW was the way the buildings lived with and related to the land, to the environment.  

I had made the mental error of transplanting my default “landscaping culture” from San Diego, Carlsbad, Rancho Santa Fe and our elaborate, monumental, lush, manicured landscaping,  into the realm of Frank Lloyd Wright. The crashing sound of my default expectations and FLW’s ethic and vision was deafening!  That clash was the most important impression of the trip and I consider it a gift and reaffirmation of our values in Herons’ House.  

These FLW properties, were  in fact part of the landscape present at the site of their construction. The house was not separate from the landscape but rather wholly integrated into each unique site, the house and landscape were one, inseparable and consistent with their surroundings and setting.  That “clash of thought” in Chicago altered and changed my values for the better.. It also changed my understanding and definition of landscaping. 

This philosophy stands in stark contrast to altering or “scaping an “impression” of some thematic wonderland from elsewhere on the globe because it “looks good in the front and rear of your house.   In today's building we scrape and disfigure the land, build the homes without regard or knowing the final occupant, and then after the homes are built we deploy the "landscaping" in many forms on totally denuded and altered earth.  I won't even start on the whole issue of water intensive landscaping.

Julie and I are blessed to have a unique piece of property on a hillside overlooking a lagoon rich with animal and plant diversity. Our goal is to make our home and its plant palette harmonious with its surroundings, with nature and with us it's occupants.   To celebrate the unique flora and fauna of Aqua Hedionda lagoon and Coastal North County.  To preserve that special flora and fauna  of the site and its surroundings, and in fact restore it by planting Native Californian plants consistent with the site.

Manzanita, California Black Sage, Ceanothus, Salvia, Toyon, Matilija Poppy, Coffeeberry are a a few of the native plant materials in Herons' House.

We love the lagoon and the hillsides,  and by planting in a native and naturalized native plant palette we are helping to restore the habitat of the native wildlife as well.  We are well on our way on our project and appreciate the wise council of Native plant experts.  We especially want to thank our Landscape Architect Rich Risner, the folks at Tree of Life Nursery  in Orange County, and of course, the inspiration and personal "clash" with FLW.

From the prairies of the midwest, to the lagoons and estuaries of coastal North County, our native American landscape is awe inspiring.

Peder

Back